Birthday giftcard option instead of Free Admission?

[disneypolybride2008]

Hi. With ticket price increase it sort of makes sense to get the giftcard for my birthday instead of the fastpass since i have an annual pass... your opinion? we'll be there in Oct. are the crowds bad during the day at MK?-weekend

Does anyone have ANY info on the giftcards? I would plan on using them at MK, but does it have to be that day only? It also says SELECT merchandise... but what does THAT mean, besides not on food??

Has anyone gotten the giftcard that can help me out w/ this info? THANKS!!

 

[Avonlady1001]

Since you asked for opinions, I'll give you mine. LOL

I think the fastpass is a waste...you already get free fastpasses w/ your admission...go for the gift card. I'm going for my bday & I'll be getting the gift card (and I'm excited it's now $79 instead of $75...big diff. LOL) From everything I'm reading here on the Dis, they do NOT have to be used that one day. They do not expire. As far as "select merchandise", I believe they can be used in most shops...but there are a few that they cannot be used in, but def not in restaurants or for food anywhere...if you search the Dis for gift cards, or birthday gift cards...I'm sure you'll find lots of info from people who've gotten to use them already this year.

 

[DiznyDi]

We were at the world over DH's birthday in May and chose the giftcard. We purchased a very nice jacket at the gift shop at SSR. I believe we were told the giftcard was good at Mouse Gear and World of Disney at DTD among various other places. We were pleasantly surprised when the CM accepted it as SSR.
Happy Birthday!

 

[karliebug]

We got the giftcard this January for my daughter's birthday. Fastpasses are free anyway so that didn't seem like such a deal. She bought a pair of sneakers, a purse, a stuffed animal and some other small items. You can spend it in any of the disney owned shops. Some of the shops in the countries at Epcot don't accept it because they aren't disney shops. You cannot use it to pay for meals or food. We thought it was great.

 

[GoofyMomInOhio]

We were there for my DH's birthday in March and he choose the gift card. We used it at POR to purchase the castle for DD6 birthday in July and had it shipped home. There were a few stores that it was not valid at (I think mostly private stores at Epcot) but they told us that it didn't expire. We used it 5 days after his birthday.
FP are free and to us it wasn't worth it. We spent his birthday at AK.

 

[mouserus]

We have annual passes so we chose the gift card option.

 

[LovinRafiki]

I guess it depends on when you are there and how busy the parks are. We went in April for my birthday and went to Epcot on my special day. I picked the gift card because we were able to ride all the rides without much of a wait without the birthday fastpass. Plus I was able to be in the world for my birthday and buy myself a nice present. The gift card does not have to be used on your birthday. I waited until the last day to finish using mine with no problem.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

the giftcard sound like the way to go, is it accepted in all the MK stores?
Also, can you have the purchases sent to the front of the store for pick up when you leave the park? i dont want to be lugging around all the stuff

 

[Kevenswife2]

Hi. With ticket price increase it sort of makes sense to get the giftcard for my birthday instead of the fastpass since i have an annual pass... your opinion? we'll be there in Oct. are the crowds bad during the day at MK?-weekend

Does anyone have ANY info on the giftcards? I would plan on using them at MK, but does it have to be that day only? It also says SELECT merchandise... but what does THAT mean, besides not on food??

Has anyone gotten the giftcard that can help me out w/ this info? THANKS!!

Thanks for this post as I've had the same questions about the giftcard. When I read all the restrictions it seemed you couldn't us it anywhere! And I also wondered if it had to all be spent the day you received it.

We'll be at MK on Aug 12th to celebrate DD's 11th birthday. We usually don't buy souvies so she's excited to have the 'money' to spend!

We plan on becoming pirates at the Pirates League and she wants to buy herself a Captain Jack hat with dreadlocks.

Any more info on the Giftcard would be appreciated.

 

[momsully]

Does anyone know if you can use it on the Magic? DS bday is October 15th and mine is October 17th. We leave on the Magic on 10/17 so I was planning to pick mine up in the morning then head to the port.